The present invention relates generally to remote access systems for enabling users to contact their home systems when traveling or otherwise away from their home systems. More particularly, the invention concerns an automatic and secure system for providing a remote user with temporary access to the user""s home system in a familiar operating environment, and a method of using the same.
Today, more and more people use electronic mail (e-mail) and the Internet as a means for communicating with others and gathering and disseminating information. When a user is at home or work where the user has a computer that is pre-configured to establish a link to the user""s home system, sending and receiving e-mail or accessing the Internet is relatively quick and easy. The computer has e-mail and Internet or network-browsing clients with which the user is comfortable, and thereby provides a familiar operating environment every time the user uses the clients. This is especially beneficial because the clients will vary in commands, operating procedures, display formats, etc. Therefore, while a user may feel very comfortable with and be very fast at using the user""s preferred choice of client, the user may be unfamiliar with another client for a similar application. As a result, the user will not only be very uncomfortable using that client but also will be significantly slower than when using the user""s preferred client.
When the user travels, it becomes much more difficult to communicate with the user""s home system in a familiar operating environment. Traditionally, a traveling or remote user required a laptop computer with a modem and the user""s preferred choices of e-mail and web-browsing clients pre-configured and installed. Traveling with a laptop is not only cumbersome and inconvenient, but also may be expensive if the laptop is stolen or otherwise damaged during transportation.
On the other hand, when the user travels without a pre-configured laptop computer, establishing communication with the user""s home system becomes much more difficult. Moreover, even if communication can be established, it will often be in an operating environment within which the user is unfamiliar and therefore uncomfortable. For example, if the user attempts to use someone else""s computer, the user will have to re-configure the computer""s clients, if the clients are even installed on the computer. Many users do not have the knowledge or training to accomplish this task. Furthermore, those that do have the knowledge often will not want to take the time to do so. In addition, if the computer does not have the user""s preferred choices of clients installed, the user either must obtain, install and configure the clients on the computer, or will have to work in an operating environment within which the user is unfamiliar.
An additional concern for traveling users is security. In order to access the user""s home system from a laptop or other computer, a configuration file is conventionally created and stored on that computer. The configuration file includes, among other things, the user""s identifying information, such as user identification (user ID) and password. If the user""s laptop is stolen or lost, a new user of the computer would be able to access the configuration file and thereby obtain the original user""s identifying information. This information can then be used to impersonate the original user and gain access to that user""s home system. Unless significant steps are taken to secure or otherwise protect this file, it remains vulnerable to misuse and misappropriation.
Security is an even larger concern when a remote user configures and uses someone else""s computer to establish communication with the user""s home system. Because the configuration file is stored on that computer, and because the remote user does not retain control of the computer (unlike a laptop, which is generally kept with the user), a subsequent user will have access to the data stored in the prior user""s configuration file. Furthermore, merely deleting the configuration file from the computer when the user is finished using the computer is not sufficient to prevent others from accessing the information previously stored in the configuration file. More complex steps and security measures are generally necessary to protect the data sufficiently.
Systems exist today which enable a traveling user to send or receive e-mail and to access the Internet (or xe2x80x9csurf the netxe2x80x9d). None of these systems, however, allow a remote user to work within an operating environment within which the user is familiar. Furthermore, none of the systems available today enable the user to select the user""s preferred choices of e-mail and network browsing clients, automatically configure the selected clients to establish communication with the user""s home system, and do so in a secure environment.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method that enables remote users to access their home system in a secure, familiar environment. Furthermore, there is a need for a system which will automatically configure the user""s preferred choices of clients and that will automatically establish communication with the user""s home system without requiring the user to have any specialized computer knowledge.
Briefly, the invented system includes one or more remote terminals, each including an input device and a display, and a system server for communicating with the terminals. The server is capable of displaying prompts on each of the displays and reading user inputs on each of the input devices. Furthermore, the server is operatively connected with the user""s home system, via a global electronic network, namely the Internet. The system further includes a program executing on the system server for prompting one or more users located at the one or more remote terminals to enter inputs and for automatically configuring a configuration file for each remote user. Each configuration file contains information responsive to a corresponding one of the user""s inputs, and each of the files is usable by the system server to operatively connect the corresponding user with that user""s home system via the electronic network, based at least in part on the user""s individual inputs. The system server executes the configuration file in such a manner as to provide each user with customized remote access to the user""s home system in a secure operating environment dictated at least in part by the user""s network client choices. In another embodiment of the invention, the system server and remote terminal are a single computer on which the program executes responsive to the user""s network client choices.